Plant Density : Unrecorded, but estimated 50 per 25 sq. metres.

Action : 80 man-hours of plant extraction. The workforce started in the S.West and worked towards the Northeast. The small rosettes were left uprooted on the ground, where they quickly dried out and died. The workforce stayed overnight in a convenient ‘bunk barn’.

Assessment : The L-D work greatly reduced the burden of scything and weed control (undertaken by E.N. officers), later in the summer. For a day or two after the work, the thousands of uprooted Marsh Thistle plants gave the field a battlefield appearance, but they quickly withered and died. Working on Spear thistle among the rocks and shallow pastures of the limestone pavement, was difficult, but nonetheless, effective.

Cost: £660 + vat

Travel: £80.